Problem: Simplify the following expression: $y = \dfrac{-4x^2- 11x- 7}{x + 1}$
Solution: First use factoring by grouping to factor the expression in the numerator. This expression is in the form ${A}x^2 + {B}x + {C}$ First, find two values, $a$ and $b$ , so: $ \begin{eqnarray} {ab} &=& {A}{C} \\ {a} + {b} &=& {B} \end{eqnarray} $ In this case: $ \begin{eqnarray} {ab} &=& {(-4)}{(-7)} &=& 28 \\ {a} + {b} &=& &=& {-11} \end{eqnarray} $ In order to find ${a}$ and ${b}$ , list out the factors of $28$ and add them together. The factors that add up to ${-11}$ will be your ${a}$ and ${b}$ When ${a}$ is ${-7}$ and ${b}$ is ${-4}$ $ \begin{eqnarray} {ab} &=& ({-7})({-4}) &=& 28 \\ {a} + {b} &=& {-7} + {-4} &=& -11 \end{eqnarray} $ Next, rewrite the expression as $({A}x^2 + {a}x) + ({b}x + {C})$ $ ({-4}x^2 {-7}x) + ({-4}x {-7}) $ Factor out the common factors: $ x(-4x - 7) + 1(-4x - 7)$ Now factor out $(-4x - 7)$ $ (-4x - 7)(x + 1)$ The original expression can therefore be written: $ \dfrac{(-4x - 7)(x + 1)}{x + 1}$ We are dividing by $x + 1$ , so $x + 1 \neq 0$ Therefore, $x \neq -1$ This leaves us with $-4x - 7; x \neq -1$.